Report Design in Excel
= Windward Reports: Extending the Power of Microsoft Excel = Overview Reporting and document generation doesn't require expensive software or complicated layout tools. Microsoft Excel users can take advantage of this popular Office program to design reports and documenttemplates for our reporting/docgen engine that convey critical, up-to-date business information in a visually impressive format. Windward Reports is the only complete reporting package touse Microsoft Excel as a design tool. Target Users Windward Reports is for companies that want to put the power of report design and generation into the hands of business professionals, thereby freeing up IT staff to focus on other work. Many reporting, docgen and mail merge programs on the market today require significant IT involvement. Because users design reports in Microsoft Excel and can run, schedule and distribute reports with a few button clicks, there is little learning curve.Use cases include: *Full-featured reporting with sophisticated scheduling *Robust document generation, content management and document production And, when used in the Microsoft SharePoint environment: *Powerful dashboards that non-programmers can create effortlessly *Effective business intelligence that increases company efficiency What Windward Reports Provides: A Complete Reporting System Areporting system encompasses the processes of designing, generating and distributing reports. Reports are simply ways to present data and include items such as invoices, inventory tallies, financial statements, insurance policies, customer account summaries, product usage reports, and even certificates and letters. Reporting Functionality *Auto-expansion of cell references with data. *Excel macros are carried over to the report. *Design *Automation *Scheduling *Sharing Reporting Uses *Create up-to-date reports without taxing IT resources *Automatically save multiple versions of templates and auto-generated reports *Merge data from multiple formats and in multiple, disparate data sources *Access, update and view reports and templates *Schedule reports to be generated at specific times and tasks to be emailed at specific times Enterprise Dashboards A dashboard presents information in an up-to-date visual summary, allowing you to make critical business decisions. Microsoft Excel, when used in the Arrow 3.0 for SharePoint environment, lets you design and preview dashboards and then display them in SharePoint.Dashboard Functionality *Automation *Configuration *Step-by-step wizards *Sophisticated formatting Dashboard Uses *Design and preview dashboards in Office with AutoTag, Arrow's template-design tool *Create dashboards without programming expertise or knowledge of software development or database administration *Display dashboards exactly where you want in SharePoint *Set dashboards to automatically refresh for up-to-the-moment information A Comprehensive Document Generation System Document generation is an automated way of producing (i.e. generating and distributing) a document. The user creates a template; when the document is generated, specific information populates the template. Windward Reports connects a template created in Microsoft Excel with data from your database, Excel spreadsheet or other data source and generates documents in a wide variety of formats.Document Generation Functionality *Auto-expansion of cell references with data. *Excel macros are carried over to the report. *Design *Automation *Scheduling *Sharing Document Generation Uses *Make documents easier to find, create and distribute *Generate documents in a wide range of formats, including DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, PDF, XML, HTML and even printed hard copies. *Automatically save multiple versions of documents *Access, update and view all documents *Schedule reports to be generated at specific times and tasks to be emailed at specific times Windward Reports Features Here's what you get with Windward Reports. The MS Excel-based Report Design Tool One of the biggest expenses in the report creation process correlates to the design tool's ease-of-use. AutoTag and AutoTag Max allow users to design templates in Microsoft Excel. Template creators can utilize all of MS Excel's design features, including fonts, styles, lists, tables and more, as well as tools such as Excel's built-in formulas. Because many professionals already know how to use Excel, there's little learning curve. Windward customers report that creating and revising reports is at least 10 times faster than with other reporting systems. Data Layout Users don't need to learn complicated code in order to insert data into their reports and other documents, because wizards and drag-and-drop functionality connect templates to their data sources. Windward handles a variety of data sources, including SQL databases, XML files, and Excel spreadsheets. Report Generation and Scheduling Capabilities Users can run reports with the click of a button, and they can produce documents in a wide array of outputs. Plus, a flexible report scheduler in AutoTag Max allows users to generate reports whenever they are needed. Related Products Arrow For SharePoint Windward Arrow extends SharePoint to deliver a complete enterprise reporting, document management, dashboard and business intelligence system. Arrow 3.0 for SharePoint lets a community of users easily and securely design, run and share reports. The Windward Reporting Engine The Windward Reporting Engine connects a template to its data sources. It is similar in functionality and capabilities to Crystal Reports and SSRS but has additional functionality. It generally runs as part of a server-based application and can produce hundreds of thousands of reports per day on a single server. *Java reporting engine *.NET reporting engine About Windward Windward Reports was created by Windward Studios and both companies were named for founder David Thielen’s childhood home on the windward side of Oahu, Hawaii. It is headquartered in beautiful Boulder, Colorado. In 1994, Windward Studios was an innovative game development studio. Its first product was the popular and highly-rated real-time strategy game Enemy Nations, which is now offered for free. The Windward Reports' suite of reporting software programs was released in 2002. Windward Reports' user group now spans 65 countries and all continents except Antarctica. It has more than 500 customers whose applications include financial statements, inventory reports, product-usage reports, purchase orders, invoices, training certificates, timesheets, and licenses. You can learn more about Windward at our Reporting Blogs. External Links *Business Week - Make Some Noise *Java Reports - Report Writing Simplified *eWeek - Windward Aces Reports *DevSource - Windward Reports Simplifies Your App's Reporting *BCBR - Windward #3 In Fastest Growing Small Companies *YouTube - Cubicle War video *Windward Reports *AutoTag and AutoTag Max *Arrow for SharePoint *AutoTag Documentation *AutoTag & Engine Ideas & Suggestions *Windward Support Forums